Life Cycle

Propagation

Stems

Stems are 1 to many 10 - 180 cm long, erect or spreading or lying nearly prostrate on the ground; often rooting from nodes in contact with the soil, usually bending in a zigzag manner at each node or joint (a).

Flowers and Fruit

Inflorescence of several much-branched panicles; terminal panicle (C) at the end of each stem large and bushy, 15 - 50 cm long and almost as wide, the branches thin but quite stiff; panicles on lower branches (f) small, compact, and often remaining partially enclosed (g) by the leaf sheath from which they emerge; spikelets (h) borne singly at the ends of the tiny branches, about 2.5 - 2.7 mm long by 1.0 - 1.1 mm wide, each containing a single floret ( â€œseedâ€) about 1.8 - 2.0 mm long by 0.9 - 1.0 mm wide, gray-brown with 5 parallel beige veins. Flowers from August to September.

Roots and Underground Structures

Habitat

Fall panicum is a native plant in eastern North America but has become a weed of significance in cultivated land only since about 1968. It now infests many thousands of acres of prime corn land in the 6 southwestern counties of Ontario and is present in many more farms in all the counties south and west of a line from Hamilton to Grand Bend. Outside this region it is known to occur only occasionally in cultivated land in central Ontario, in streamside locations along Bear Creek southeast of Ottawa, and in several waste areas in Ottawa city and along the St. Lawrence River.

Distinguishing Features

It is distinguished from Witch grass by its coarser panicle, the zigzag appearance of its longer stems, and the absence of hair on the leaf sheaths and leaf blades in the upper part of the plant; and from Proso millet by its hairless upper leaf sheaths and blades and its smaller spikelets and â€œseedsâ€ that are only gray-brown in colour.

Resources

Weed Control Options

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